


just for today

by mermaidhanji



Series: old soldiers, old love [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Multi, Mutual Pining, Overwatch Family, Polyamory, Post-Old Soldiers (Overwatch), Reflections (Overwatch)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 21:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16647803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mermaidhanji/pseuds/mermaidhanji
Summary: Ana glanced over at Jack. It hadn’t been very long since they found each other again—and since Gabriel found them. Between fleeing the scene of the busted operation, finding refuge, and swapping intel, there hadn’t been time to truly talk… until now.EDIT: wrote this before jack was revealed to be gay lol im going to be reworking all my shit for this series so it’s anareaper76 polyam V instead. im not super into ovw rn so i’ve been slow, but i will do it!!! thanks for ur patience!





	just for today

**Author's Note:**

> GOD i had this sitting like 80% finished for like a year lol but im finally posting it now
> 
> takes place after old soldiers and during reflections cause hoogh. i couldn't stop imagining what they must have been THINKING in that one panel. HOOGH. anyway i have more coming for this series!! also please consider reading this on my [tumblr](http://thedreadgay.tumblr.com/post/180198326674/just-for-today-series-old-soldiers-old-love-word) instead and supporting me there if u like my stuff, thank u!

Ana grimaced out at the baking sand. They were safe for the moment—Jack blew her stakeout, damn him, but Talon would be scurrying to the shadows to lick their wounds. It would be a little while until their fingers reached into Cairo again, but only a little. Nothing ever truly sleeps.

At least it bought them time, and respite, both for the people here and for her. But with a lull came empty silence, taunting them with words gone unsaid.

Ana glanced over at Jack. It hadn’t been very long since they found each other again—and since Gabriel found them. Between fleeing the scene of the busted operation, finding refuge, and swapping intel, there hadn’t been time to truly talk… until now.

Six years apart; six years of _presumed dead_ and wondering where it all went wrong. Sometimes, in her dreary haze, Ana had dreamed of reuniting with the men she loved. It would play like a silent film, distant and unreal, an indulgence that proved more cruel in the end. _Here’s your fool fantasy,_ she thought bitterly: Gabriel tried to kill them, and Ana and Jack were sitting on opposite ends of a bare-bones room, pointedly trying to ignore their ghosts and the date.

That morning, _December 25th_ lighting up her holopad had been a punch in the gut. Neither she nor Jack celebrated Christmas in their own right, but it had a special place. Others in their family loved it, and loved to share it; and a day of gift giving and cuddling in ugly sweaters wasn’t so bad.

 _Gabriel loved Christmas,_ she thought.

Ana sighed quietly, and shifted, painfully aware of the loneliness in the room. Being by herself, she could handle. Being with Jack, with so much to say that the words wouldn’t come, was unbearable.

 _“Disengage, Ana!”_ She remembered Jack’s voice over her comm like it was yesterday. _“That’s an or—“_

She hadn’t allowed him his last words to her, before rushing to greet her death. The echo of it hung heavy between them.

Jack sighed too, and rubbed his face tiredly. He was still gazing at that photograph, on print, between his fingers; what it was, Ana could only guess.

She cracked open her dry mouth, and then closed it again. Trying to shape anything between them further than strategy was like gazing at rubble, pieces of something splintered unrecognizably. Jack must have been just as lost, otherwise he wouldn’t be so quiet. He had never been particularly quiet. But then again, neither had she. A humourless smile flitted across her lips—how empty they’ve become. She wondered if Gabriel felt the same.

The atmosphere was so utterly crushing, she almost wanted to leave the room, even if it was only a temporary escape of inevitable discomfort. But… Jack was here. Jack was _here_ —and she had been alone for so long. She guessed from the lines on his face that he’d been lonely, too. Her old heart ached, because oh, she loved him. She loved them both.

Jack glanced up at her, and Ana realized she had been staring. For a moment, blue eyes held brown—longing, and apprehensive, and Ana didn’t have to wonder if Jack still loved them too. Part of her wanted to scoff; why wallow and pine when they could do something about it? She could march over there right now and hold him, kiss him.

But it was so much, so soon. Their history was long, their lives together in shambles, and so they remained in uneasy liminity; neither daring to speak nor move.

Ana took a breath. In an act of bravery—or cowardice—she stood. Jack’s eyes didn’t leave her face, nervous and questioning.

“Maintenance,” she murmured, grabbing her rifle and kit. Truly, her rifle hardly needed any attention at the moment, but anything was better than this feeling like suffocation.

Jack looked like he could sag in relief. “Good idea.”

He folded his photo away as she did her memories. She opened her kit while Jack fetched his own gear, and narrowed her focus. For now, they could fill the void between them with the smell of grease, and busy unsure hands with steel. Maybe they could stave off the many, many conversations to be had, without the isolation that had been eating away at them. At least for today, Ana thought—just to get through today.


End file.
